1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a sound pickup switching apparatus for a string instrument, in particular an electric guitar. The invention furthermore relates to a method for adjusting a sound pickup switching apparatus for string instruments,. The invention still furthermore relates to a string instrument having a sound pickup.
2. Discussion of the Prior Art
Sound pickups for string instruments, in particular for electric guitars, normally have either one coil or else a so-called double coil which has two electrically separate coils arranged on the sound pick-up. Such a double coil is also called a "humbucker pickup". In electric guitars, a plurality of sound pickups are normally arranged spaced apart in the direction in which the strings run. The best known arrangements are the so-called "GIBSON tonality", which comprises two sound pickups with a double coil, and the so-called "FENDER tonality", which comprises three sound pickups, each having one coil. In addition, other arrangement variations of sound pickups are known, for example an arrangement in which a further sound pickup with one coil is arranged between two sound pickups each having a double coil and detects the oscillations of the strings.
WO-92/13335 discloses a sound pickup switching apparatus for an electric guitar, which allows the individual coils of a plurality of sound pickups to be connected in various combinations in order to play the electric guitar with different tonality. This known sound pickup switching apparatus has the disadvantage that both the number of the sound pickups which can be connected and their combination options are very limited.